Marketing Tactics

Huge numbers of shoppers feasted on deals over Thanksgiving weekend, but how and when Americans did so has forever changed, as online activity exceeded store visits.

Retailers such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Macy’s spoke of well executed promotional strategies that leveraged their physical and digital presence and those insights were validated by data from the National Retail Federation’s Thanksgiving Weekend Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.

Digital media company Mashable and Visa are doing a little mashing of their own to launch a new online retail entity.

The two companies have launched the Mashable Shop, an e-commerce storefront accessible via the Mashable media site. Mashable Shop offers both original apparel and accessories, as well curated technology products and select merchandise from Williams-Sonoma. The Visa Checkout online payment service will be the exclusive form of payment.

Thanksgiving may be over, but it is worth watching a video of how Meijer made a difference in the lives of hundreds of customers and employees ahead of the holiday and in the process earned itself immeasurable goodwill.

A four-year, $400 million upgrade has transformed Macy’s Herald Square flagship. But for all the modernization, there is a signature element of the store that remains as is: the Otis wooden escalators—20 in all— that have been in operation for as long as 95 years.

Just in time for Black Friday, Structube, a leading Canadian retailer of modern furniture, has launched its e-commerce site in the United States.

In addition to its online platform, Structube, which operates 47 stores in Canada, plans to open stores across the United States, starting in 2016.

Structube specializes in contemporary style furniture, and offers “high style/low priced” pre-assembled and easy-to-assemble products. The company says it caters to young professionals, condo dwellers and small businesses.

Alibaba generated a record $14.3 billion in sales in a 24-hour period on Singles Day (Nov. 11) this year. That is roughly five times what Cyber Monday is expected to generate.

Clearly, Alibaba is doing something right and is setting a precedent for what other retailers worldwide hope to achieve. It’s worth looking at why Alibaba was so successful. So what can retailers take away from the Singles’ Day experience to maximize sales and give customers a great experience this holiday season, and throughout 2016?

Online retailer Jet.com has secured an additional $350 million in funding and joined the ranks of startup unicorns whose valuation exceeds $1 billion.

Retailers looking to maximize online revenues should utilize one specific digital promotional solution to create a sense of pleasure.

Click and collect, or customers ordering goods online for retailers to assemble for in-store pickup, is a practice retailers should consider this holiday season.

According to a new survey from order management solutions provider Shopatron, 31% of U.S. shoppers plan on using click-and-collect this year for holiday shopping.

Online spending this holiday season is shaping up to be downright joyful for retailers.

According to comScore, total online retail spending for the November–December period will reach $70.1 billion, representing a 14% gain from $61.3 billion a year earlier. Total desktop spending is expected to reach $58.3 billion, up 9% from $53.3 million.